3 ms·

Inside the bad math that lets Coca-Cola say it gives back all the water it uses

26 points by f3f3_ 8y ago

etskinner 8y ago
The article talks about water as if it's an exhaustible resource, but it's not. What's the big deal if my quarter pounder requires the flow of hundreds or thousands of gallons of water, it's all released to the atmosphere at some point, right? I could understand if they were talking about the power needed to pump water (assuming artificial irrigation), but they don't mention that at all.
- detritus 8y ago
  I've never really understood the outrage over this point either - in my country, at least. I could appreciate the criticism if we were discussing livestock in the Sahara or Golf courses in Nevada - but when its aimed at grass-reared cows or chickens in Britain, one of the rainiest places on Earth* , it doesn't compute for me. * only a slight exaggeration
  - coaxial 8y ago
    My understanding is that this water needs to be produced, that is taken from a source, processed, cleaned, pumped into pipes, etc. It means that you eventually have to divert and dry up rivers, lakes, or underground reserves to produce the water. This can destroy ecosystems because they're not getting the water anymore. It is possible to use more water than comes it and thus empty the buffer. The other issue is that it displaces water. For example, California has a water problem. Most of the water used to grow vegetables is then shipped away in the produce to far away where they're consumed: the water will never make it back to California. It puts even more strain on an already tapped out water supply. Finally, used water becomes polluted. Some chemicals are very hard to remove from water (some fertilizers, antibiotics, antidepressants...) and so the water is not exactly as it was, it's degraded.
    - detritus 8y ago
      Nice answer, thanks - although as I say, I mean more when the argument is raised here in Blighty. Where we're concerned, farm run-off is a problem, but an understood and solvable one. I wonder if, in the future, our trade might increasingly become more of a dualistic swap between Northern cold and wet countries and their water-based product, to more equatorial countries, dripping in solar energy. Atoms for electrons.
    - lozenge 8y ago
      Blue water is clean piped water. Green water is water that naturally falls on crops. Both are usually included in the water footprint.
- htgb 8y ago
  Fresh water is definitely a scarce resource in some parts of the world. To quote the article (my emphasis): > Coca-Cola keeps distribution costs low by tapping local water sources, a practice it has continued since the company’s early success at Atlanta-area soda fountains in the late 1800s. By the 2000s, however, local people in some of the world’s increasingly water-stressed regions were looking more critically at big water users, and Coca-Cola found itself a target of public ire.

26 points by f3f3_ 8y ago

The article talks about water as if it's an exhaustible resource, but it's not. What's the big deal if my quarter pounder requires the flow of hundreds or thousands of gallons of water, it's all released to the atmosphere at some point, right? I could understand if they were talking about the power needed to pump water (assuming artificial irrigation), but they don't mention that at all.

detritus 8y ago
I've never really understood the outrage over this point either - in my country, at least. I could appreciate the criticism if we were discussing livestock in the Sahara or Golf courses in Nevada - but when its aimed at grass-reared cows or chickens in Britain, one of the rainiest places on Earth* , it doesn't compute for me. * only a slight exaggeration
- coaxial 8y ago
  My understanding is that this water needs to be produced, that is taken from a source, processed, cleaned, pumped into pipes, etc. It means that you eventually have to divert and dry up rivers, lakes, or underground reserves to produce the water. This can destroy ecosystems because they're not getting the water anymore. It is possible to use more water than comes it and thus empty the buffer. The other issue is that it displaces water. For example, California has a water problem. Most of the water used to grow vegetables is then shipped away in the produce to far away where they're consumed: the water will never make it back to California. It puts even more strain on an already tapped out water supply. Finally, used water becomes polluted. Some chemicals are very hard to remove from water (some fertilizers, antibiotics, antidepressants...) and so the water is not exactly as it was, it's degraded.
  - detritus 8y ago
    Nice answer, thanks - although as I say, I mean more when the argument is raised here in Blighty. Where we're concerned, farm run-off is a problem, but an understood and solvable one. I wonder if, in the future, our trade might increasingly become more of a dualistic swap between Northern cold and wet countries and their water-based product, to more equatorial countries, dripping in solar energy. Atoms for electrons.
  - lozenge 8y ago
    Blue water is clean piped water. Green water is water that naturally falls on crops. Both are usually included in the water footprint.
htgb 8y ago
Fresh water is definitely a scarce resource in some parts of the world. To quote the article (my emphasis): > Coca-Cola keeps distribution costs low by tapping local water sources, a practice it has continued since the company’s early success at Atlanta-area soda fountains in the late 1800s. By the 2000s, however, local people in some of the world’s increasingly water-stressed regions were looking more critically at big water users, and Coca-Cola found itself a target of public ire.